100 Years Young: Global Campaign Celebrates Coke Bottle Centennial

An
Atlanta pharmacist’s secret formula gave Coca-Cola the beverage its distinctively
delicious taste. A few decades later, an Indiana glass company’s bottle design
gave Coca-Cola the brand its signature curves.

In 1915, Coca-Cola attempted to fend off a host of copycat brands by strengthening its trademark. The company and its bottling partners issued a creative challenge to a handful of U.S. glass companies: To develop a “bottle so distinct that you would recognize if by feel in the dark or lying broken on the ground.” The Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Ind., developed the winning design, mimicking the elongated contour shape and distinct ribs of a cocoa bean. The bottle was patented on Nov. 16, 1915 and has since inspired a century’s worth of signature moments in film, social history, design and fine arts.

Coca-Cola is
celebrating the centennial of its proprietary package in 2015 with a year-long campaign
that includes new advertising, a music anthem and a series of art exhibits
featuring works from leading contemporary artists including Andy Warhol, Norman
Rockwell and Peter Blake.

“Since its
creation in 1915, the Coca-Cola bottle has achieved iconic status as a symbol
of refreshment and uplift and it remains an important asset for our business today,”
said Marcos de Quinto, Chief Marketing Officer, Coca-Cola. “The campaign, which
will be executed in over 130 countries, is our invitation to consumers around
the world to share in the specialness of an ice-cold Coca-Cola.”

The campaign
kicks off this week with the opening of a new exhibit at the High Museum of Art
in Atlanta. The Coca-Cola Bottle: An
American Icon at 100, which opens Feb. 28 and runs through Oct. 4, will
salute the Coca-Cola bottle and its special place in the worlds of art, design
and commerce over the past 100 years. For the first time, two original Andy
Warhol Coke bottle paintings will be displayed alongside more than 100 original
artworks and photographs featuring the bottle. The exhibit will also include
original bottle prototypes and sketches.

A traveling
art exhibition, The Coca-Cola Bottle Art
Tour: Inspiring Pop Culture for 100 Years, will take consumers on a unique,
multi-sensory journey featuring an array of Coca-Cola bottle-themed art,
historical artifacts and interactive experiences showcasing the Coca-Cola
bottle’s role in art and popular culture. The exhibition will visit more than 15
countries and travel more than 62,000 miles around the world in 2015.

The
Coca-Cola bottle’s legacy will be explored through 14 TV and digital films that will air globally in 2015. One spot
from Ogilvy & Mather Paris tells the epic tale of the creation of the
Coca-Cola bottle, as narrated by a big brother to his younger sibling. The
bottle travels through distant lands and curious settings, captivating the
boy’s imagination. Through this journey, the bottle obtains its iconic curves,
its flutes and red ribbon, and gets filled with icy-cold Coca-Cola as it ends
its ride back in the hands of the refreshed older brother. The additional 12
spots were produced by Ogilvy & Mather Paris, Wieden + Kennedy Portland, Sid Lee Canada and McCann Madrid.

“Nobody Like You” is the music anthem for the Coca-Cola
bottle campaign from 19-year-old, Canadian singer/songwriter Francesco Yates. Yates is now signed to Atlantic
Records. The anthem’s lyrics tell both a traditional love story and serve as an
ode to the contour shape of the Coca-Cola bottle and the specialness of shared
moments. “Nobody Like You,” which can be downloaded starting today, will appear
on radio and in Coca-Cola TV commercials throughout the year.

Iconic
celebrities, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Ray Charles unite in the new "Kissed By" global outdoor, digital and
retail campaign. The images feature the stars being "kissed by" the Coca-Cola
bottle, an experience shared across generations for the last 100 years. Throughout
the year, local markets will further leverage "Kissed By" featuring modern-day
celebrities and musical icons.

Coca-Cola,
in partnership with French publishing house Assouline, will release a
limited-edition book highlighting the rich history of the Coca-Cola bottle, Kiss the Past Hello. In addition to famous artwork featuring
the Coca-Cola bottle, the company invited contemporary artists and designers
from around the world to reinterpret the bottle in their own signature
aesthetic. The result is a stunning array of “mash-up” artwork, which will be
showcased in the book when it is released in March 2015.

To share our
rich heritage with our consumers in a contemporary way, we have created an
interactive journey through the Story of
the Coca-Cola Bottle App that takes you through a behind-the-scenes look at
our Coca-Cola Archives featuring stories about both the brand and the bottle
from inside our headquarters in Atlanta. The free app will be available in both
Apple and Android formats.

Coca-Cola Journey will serve as a global hub for Coke Bottle 100 content.

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world’s largest beverage company, offering over 500 brands to people in more than 200 countries. Of our 21 billion-dollar brands, 19 are available in lower- or no-sugar options to help people moderate their consumption of added sugar. In addition to our namesake Coca-Cola drinks, some of our leading brands around the world include: AdeS soy-based beverages, Ayataka green tea, Dasani waters, Del Valle juices and nectars, Fanta, Georgia coffee, Gold Peak teas and coffees, Honest Tea, Minute Maid juices, Powerade sports drinks, Simply juices, smartwater, Sprite, vitaminwater, and Zico coconut water. At Coca-Cola, we’re serious about making positive contributions to the world. That starts with reducing sugar in our drinks and continuing to introduce new ones with added benefits. It also means continuously working to reduce our environmental impact, creating rewarding careers for our associates and bringing economic opportunity wherever we operate. Together with our bottling partners, we employ more than 700,000 people around the world.